Naoko's Story
by Amethyst Beloved
Summary: One-shot. Naoko Yanagisawa has to be one of CCS fan fiction’s most neglected characters. The reason for that is probably that she’s the only one in Tomoeda who’s not in love. Why? See what happens when the one person who you can trust betrays you.


A/N: Here's a story about Naoko. I must warn you that it might take some time before you get to her past, but that's only because she keeps pushing it away from her mind. Please be patient. This is the first time I wrote anything at first person. 

Foreword: To write this story, I took as much information as possible from the Create Card and Big Card (subbed) episode, Sakura and the Nameless Book (episode 31). I noticed that the CCS translated episodes on the Internet is different than the ones on DVD, so there might be some variation in the dialogue if you read episode summaries.

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Disclaimer: CCS belongs to CLAMP, and the dialogue belongs to Episode 31.

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"Talking"

'Thoughts'

~*~(Next scene)~*~

 * (Flashbacks) *

Writing 

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Naoko's Story

By: Amethyst Beloved

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In the mists of the dark, cloudy skies perched a dragon upon a gloomy mountain. With a flash of lighting, the creature spread apart it's majestic wings, and flew towards the direction of the moon in hopes of new adventures. The End.

I closed my eyes and blissfully let out a sigh as I finished another beautiful book. The great part of stories is that they always have an end, and that they won't betray anyone by leaving them hanging.

"Naoko-chan!" greeted a cheery voice that could only belong to one person.

"Sakura-chan!" I reply with a smile. Sometimes I envy her for her bubbly personality, her beautiful emerald eyes, and most of all her athletic skills. All the things that I'm not, and on occasion, I wish that there were more to me other than my boring straight brown hair, my huge glasses taking over most of my face, and my clumsiness when it comes to sports. I would have been the last one to finish the marathon if Meilin didn't sprain her ankle, and Sakura and Syaoran stayed behind with her. At least I tried my hardest.

"You brought your lunch, right? Let's eat together!"

"Okay!" I answer as I close my book.

That's just the thing about Sakura. Everybody adores her, and I find myself very lucky to be one of her friends. She's probably one of the most thoughtful and caring people in Tomoeda.

"What are you reading?"

"I borrowed a book from the library." I held it up so Sakura could see the title. ­_Dragon Mountain_. Just as I expected, she jumped back in a panic.

"Is it a scary book?"

"It's not. It's a Fantasy novel."

"Fantasy?"

I smiled inwardly at myself as I gathered my belongings. The biggest difference between the both of us is that I live for all sorts of creepy and mysterious things from ghosts to science fiction, while all she does is squirms and screams. Maybe if I tell her enough stories, I might break her out of her habit. She hasn't got a clue on what she's missing out.

~*~(Outside: Lunch Time)~*~

"You can say it is like an imagination story," Tomoyo explained patiently to Sakura as her best friend flipped through the pages of my book.

"Sounds interesting."

"It's a good story!" I pipe in.

"What kind of story is it?" she asked me, eyes glued to the pictures.

My eyes lit up as I began to give a summary of the story: "It has the dragon and a big turtle…"

I couldn't finish because we had an unexpected surprise. Who would have know Meilin would sweep down on us in the middle conversation and ask about Syaoran? Okay, I guess it was more like demanding about his whereabouts. 

Meilin is so lucky to have someone in her life. Syaoran seems to have a protective quality about him that no one could over look. It's obvious that he takes good care of himself and the people who he's close to. I use to have a friend like that but-

I shook my head to clear out my thoughts. The last thing I need is to get involved with another guy again. I took me so long to get over it, and I'm not going to fall in the same trap for the second time.

~*~(After school)~*~

I was walking home with Sakura, Tomoyo, Rika, and Chiharu, and I was trying not to lead my thoughts and feelings to what I remembered during lunch. But there was only one thing that could make me forget.

"It's a book store!" I cried out with as much enthusiast that I could muster despite my current attitude. "Do you want to check it out?"

Sakura smiled sweetly and gave her consent. I quickly ran in, and only have of me remembered that books were not Sakura's favorite pastime. Give her roller blades any day. But she still went along with my devotion.

Walking through the aisles, I looked back and forth from the highest shelf to the smallest pile on the ground. Suddenly, a book with something missing caught my eye.

"It doesn't have a title."

I took it off the shelf, and flipped through the book. It started with a script written in an old fashion way at the beginning, but all of a sudden the pages later on in the book were blank. On the first blank page there rested a quill and a message. I read it out loud.

"If you want to continue the fairy tale, please continue at your own will."

Finally, here's my chance to change things and make them turn out differently. Although my past experience may have ended on a sour note, I can finally do things my way. Thoughtfully, I picked up the quill.

"Sounds interesting. I will take this book."

~*~(Nightfall)~*~

Clad in my most cozy pajamas, I eagerly devour the book at my comfortable dusk, using the light from my favorite lamp. Finally I got to the last page with writing on it. 

"It was interesting. This book was about magicians."

Propping my elbows on my desk, I casually rested my chin in my palms and wracked my brain for ideas. Deep in thought and concentration, I was hardly aware of the fact that I was bringing up memories from the past…

* Seven Years Ago * 

Four-year-old Naoko Yanagisawa wasn't like the other kids who were also her age. While they played in the sandbox and on the jungle gym with zeal, she was content with sitting under a tree and playing with her favorite toys. But instead of dressing her dolls with dresses, she placed small sheets over her head and pretended that they were ghosts. And instead of hanging on to a stuffed teddy bear she preferred her toy dragon.

"Why are you playing with those things?" a voice asked out of the blue.

Naoko slowly looked up, and aid her eyes on an attractive little boy around her age with messy black hair.

"I like to play with these things," she answered plainly.

"But you're a _girl_," he stressed. "Girls are not supposed to play with dragons. ­_Boys_ play with dragons so they could save the girl."

To show her what he meant, he took Naoko by the hand, and made her stand against the tree as if she was tied up. Then he put on a great show of fighting the ghosts and the dragon to save his princess. After he bravely defeated all the obstacles, he saved the victim with much flourish, he exclaimed:

"Now that I, Sir Tashi, have saved you, princess, you must reward me with a kiss!"

Naoko giggled as she complied his wish. That's when she knew that she was in love.

* End of Flashback *

I looked down at the blank pages and smiled at myself as I began to write:

She was a beautiful princess with hair as soft as silk and a skin as smooth as ivory. She always wore the finest dresses in the kingdom.  Everyone loved her and they wanted to protect her. 

"And then the princess went somewhere. What happened next?"

* Six Years Ago *

Naoko and her friend Tashi were inseparable for the next year. He liked being a hero while she loved having one. They were best friends, and for once in her life Naoko saw that boys weren't mean and that they actually made good friends.

"I'll always be your princess, right?" she would usably ask.

"There's no reason why not," he would always answer back. He really meant it too. Tashi was a firm believer that boys were the strong ones, and that girls always need rescuing.

"I'm glad," she stated, closing her eyes and hugging his arm with affection.

She was starting to depend on Tashi because she was certain that he'd always with her. However, if she kept her eyes opened, she would have noticed Tashi staring at someone else.

~*~(The next day)~*~

Naoko skipped to the park, wondering what kind of game Tashi would like to play today. All of a sudden, she heard the familiar words exclaiming:

"Now that I, Sir Tashi, have saved you, princess, you must reward me with a kiss!"

Much to her horror, when Naoko came closer, she saw with her own eyes how Tashi approached the girl who was pretending to be tied to the tree. When he girl leaned forward to give him her kiss, Naoko felt as if her heart was being stabbed with a knife as her insides twisted with pain. The only person that she trusted betrayed her. That's when she knew that she was never going to fall in love again.

* End of Flashback *

I frowned at the memories. Although I tried my hardest to suppress them, they still managed to get out. I looked at what I written so far. The princess should disappear. Animals are much nicer.

A panther leapt out of the bush as quick as a flash. Suddenly, it spouted wings, and began to rise in the night sky. A flying pink hippo emerged for the river to keep the panther company. This was all the work of the magician. A yellow horse dove from the sky to join the crowd. The panther looked at his friends with a smile as he disappeared to collect more animals that were also his friends.

"Not only just that, but the other animals and fishes have wings also!"

­There were pigs, dogs, and snails. There were cats, crabs, and walruses. There were cows, giraffes, and even gerbils! They were all floating around, and nobody was fighting. That was when a strong gust of wind blew them all away. "And then at the end, a big huge king appeared for the animals-with-wings showed up." 

I finally did manage to get over Tashi. It wasn't easy to go back, but once I did, I knew that I made the right decision to go back to my first love…

* Five Years Ago *

Naoko was six years old, and she didn't need any boy to tell her what she could and couldn't to. She gazed fondly at the toy dragon in the window of the toy store, but she felt to old to play with toys. What else can she indulge in? She wanted to feel older so she could forget about the miserable time in her past.

She was walking down the street until a quaint store caught her attention. Her eyes grew wide with her discovery. Book, books, and more books! Adventure books, horror books, fantasy books, and science fiction books! All these books, and the best part was that there was not one romance novel in sight. That was good in Naoko's point of view. She need some time away from that genre. She picked up the first book in her reach. It was about dragons. Naoko smiled as she made herself comfortable in her new haven. Nothing will hurt her here.

* End of Flashback *

The dragon descended, and headed towards the East. Throwing his head back, me unleashed a mighty roar. Raging fire blasted from his mouth and he spread the flames in all directions. Standing on his hind legs, he was ready to let loose his mightiest snarl. He took a deep breath and

"Let's go to sleep," I said to myself drowsily with a stretch and a yawn. I'm tired. I need sleep.

~*~(The next morning)~*~

The sun crept through the window, and the birds were already chirping. It's time to wake up to the blurry world before I get my glasses on, and then everything will be in focus. 

Going to my desk, I can see that something is wrong. The book is missing.

"Huh?" I muddled, crouching down on my knees to look under my desk to see if the book fell or something. It didn't fall. It was missing. Covering my eyes, I tried not to shed tears. It hit me that history repeated itself. But instead of a guy who leaving me, a book disappeared. There must be an explanation for it! There has to be! Wait:

"This is a mysterious experience!"

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A/N: Ta-da! So what did you think? Is this a worthy explanation on why Naoko is the only character in CCS without a love? I hope so. It's kind of hard writing about her. Please review!

For those who are waiting for my third prequel, please be patient. Since E&T aren't a couple by fact, they're going to be difficult to write about. Suggestions will be welcomed. I might even have to write my Rika and Terada prequel before the E&T one if I don't have any ideas. Because I have an English term paper to write, a History exam to study for, and a wedding to go to in Ontario, I will not have time to write. So even if I might not post anything up on the sixteenth, I'll have something new for the twenty-third. (Take this chance to read my other stories if you haven't yet! ^_~). I won't let my readers down!

Don't forget to review!


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